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Important Terms Academic Journals Published by experts in field for other experts in the field Sourced Objective

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Important Terms Peer Reviewed Many academic journals are peer reviewed Panel of experts who review/approve for publication Highest standard of publication

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Important Terms Empirical Research Data from actual observation or experimentation Primary audience: other experts Contributes to an ongoing discussion of important issues in the field Found in academic journals

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Introduction and Literature Review What it is Describes the research problem Summarizes key research to date Shows need for current study States research question(s) and hypotheses

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Introduction and Literature Review How to Read it Read first and last paragraphs, first sentence of other paragraphs Identify research questions and hypotheses (at end of section) Note sources that sound relevant to your topic

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Method/methodology What it is Describes how the experiment was conducted

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Method/methodology How to Read it Skim to identify participants, measures, and procedures Dont stress the statistics Tip: Imagine yourself as a participant in the study to make experiment more real to you

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Results What it is Describes findings reached through analysis of the data Often includes charts, graphs

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Results How to Read it Skim to identify the findings Dont be scared by statistics or tables. You dont need them to understand the key results.

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Discussion and/or Conclusion How to Read it Read first and last paragraphs, first sentence of other paragraphs Identify what the findings tell us about the research topic Find suggestions for the practical use of the findings (especially at end of section).

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References What it is Full citations of all sources referenced in article

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References How to Read it Skim for other sources you can use for your paper Find references for any interesting sources you saw in previous sections

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Sample Empirical Study In this sample abstract, lets identify the following sections: Introduction Methods Results Discussion What is the most important point the author wants to make? What might be some future areas for research? What are some other studies on topic?

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What did we learn? How does knowing the parts of an empirical study help you find important content?

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A Reading Strategy? What would you tell another student about how to read an academic article? What would you skim/skip/read in detail?